Catholic Press Awards: And the winner is...

"...for the best essay in a magazine about prayer and spirituality..."  It's not me, but the late Brian Doyle's "A Prayer for You and Yours" published last year in Give Us This Day.  Poignant — all the more so given his recent death — with a touch of torque on the language that I deeply admire and appreciate, it speaks of the lengths and depths parents will go to, and God.

Give Us This Day swept the category this year, taking first, second and third places. All three essays pulled on the authors' experiences as parents.  Listen to Mary Stommes' mother's wise words about an exasperating child in "The Wisdom of Our Elders":  love him.  We, too, are loved by God -- no matter how exasperating at times.

Third place?  That went to my essay,"We Are Never Alone," about Psalm 139 for last May's issue: We are never alone, but besieged and beloved, from the beginning of time to the ends of the earth.  I can't tell you how surprised I was at the news!

Do read Brian Doyle's and Mary Stommes' pieces and feast on the riches they lay on the table.  Mine, too, if you are so minded!